Price of new jewelry is too much?

OP, I’d really shop around. I had a sapphire and diamond ring remodelled last year, using my own 14ct gold. The design I wanted was intricate, but the whole cost of the redesign, remodel, and being sent off to be hallmarked came to £1000. This was from a local jeweller to me, who makes his own jewellery in his Workshop above the shop.

Your jewellers have taken five months to get back to you. You don’t need to be rushed into any decision. Take your time and get some more quotes.

@Andreaoid have you decided to go ahead? I can pm you a Lincs jeweller I have used previously, who may be able to assist.

Either with your own gold or adapting an existing bangle ?

Maybe remove the actual front of the ring and have it set as the Centrepiece of a bangle ?

I have just had two pieces made from a mix of family pieces and pieces which were no longer to my taste. One was about a year ago, was smaller and still in four figures. The second piece I have just got and was much the price you were quoted. The designer was excellent, several meetings, sets of drawings, options for how and where stones were set. They had to do CAD drawings for the workshop as it was very particular design. The bespoke service is much of the cost, things like using a workshop which will melt your jewellery separately. I now have a beautiful piece which I love but may be frightened to wear. I hadn’t really thought about value but they have done me an insurance valuation which makes the price of getting it made look much more reasonable!

I would shop around TBH. I know Gold has shot up, however this seems very high .Jewellers are like anywhere else really good and bad! Chain stores like Ernest Jones /Goldsmiths are dear. Can u see if a small local one may be better? An old style jeweller mended my gold bangle for £15.00!

Fine. I was just trying to be helpful as someone who's been in your position.

I'm having a wedding ring enlarged 9ct gold which is costing £120.
Also my engagement ring is being turned into a pendant again 9ct gold and that is £200.

If they've dragged it out for 5 months do you really want to use them anyway?

I would shop around. Make sure you know how much weight of gold you're contributing and ask them how much extra is needed. The price of gold is high so you have to be prepared that it might cost more than expected.

Talk through your ideas with jewellers and ensure they know what kind of budget you're working with.

Seal work can be very detailed, it is not necessarily cheap to do. But if you give your ideas to a jeweller with an idea of budget, they should be able to advise on what's realistic.

I would also explore other options, like converting your late Hs signet ring into a different piece.

The OP is providing the gold to be used in the ring.

Have you seen where gold prices are?

I would also try getting a quote from a manufacturing jeweller in either Hatton Garden or the Birmingham Jewellery quarter. They can often be cheaper as they will have a lot of skills "in house".

Have you also thought a bit outside the box - for example having the engraved part of the original ring set into a pendant for example?

It's been a quarter century for me, so I get it, I really do. It would have been a lovely gesture. But in the grand scheme of things it's just not that important. I try to honour my late husband in the way I live my life and raise our children.

I'm remarried so I wear my new husband's ring now. (I say "new" - we've been together way longer than I was with my first husband!) There are a couple of photos of my late husband displayed in our house, but apart from that no real physical signs that he existed. But he lives on in our memories, and we still talk about him often. What I'm trying to say is that he passage of time (two years is nothing really) will give you more perspective and you'll understand that things like this that you thought were so important now really aren't, so don't spend money you can't afford on this.

Deep seal engraving is a very specific skill, and that will be costly too. If you have a budget in mind it is always a good idea to mention it - they could perhaps alloy your gold to 9ct for example, or buy in a 9ct signet to engrave, and offset the value of your 14ct gold. That would decrease the labour enormously.

Ignore this - I reread your op properly and you’re not melting down his ring, you’re using some of your own gold.

I would look at going on a mini break to somewhere you can get this done for less.

I appreciate it’s not to everyone’s tastes, and probably a bit far just for this, but I buy my gold jewellery in Dubai and it’s basically the spot price plus around 30% on top for a “making fee”.
im sure there must be another country closer to the UK, where you can find something similar, maybe turkey?

do you have to use your old gold to make the ring? I imagine it would be easier for them to use their own, and you can sell yours to put towards the price?

It's on the steep side but there is a lot of work involved and the price of gold has certainly rocketed.

It is often cheaper to buy in new fresh gold to work with rather than try and reuse existing gold due to the issues of carat and pitting. I normally offer scrap price for the old gold and offset against the cost of fresh new gold.

Hallmarking also isn't cheap and for one item it's a lot. I paid a small fortune to get a one off gold wedding ring hallmarked for a client just before Christmas and I've another one about to go.

If it's a signet ring is it being cast? That can put the price up. Carving the wax for casting can take hours and is a skilled job. If they are outsourcing that it will all add to the cost.

Many casting houses either won't use sentimental gold or if they do will charge extra as it has to be ring fenced from the rest of the gold they would be using. Pieces are not usually cast one at a time. They are also returned in a rough state from the caster and the "finishing" can take hours.

It seems odd that you’re moving from a large man’s ring to presumably a slightly smaller women’s ring (as you say it’s too big for you to wear) and they need more gold to do it with. It can’t be much, and it might be that it’s less to do with cost of gold and more to do with jeweller time costs (which is of course understandable, but might vary a lot more between jewellers).